“I played there in Fargo twice,” said Great Falls native and former Montana Grizzly standout receiver Josh Horner. “My true freshman year (in 2014) I played a little on special teams, and then in the playoff game there (in 2015). It was just insane in that place. When you’re standing on the field it’s so loud you can feel the vibration of the crowd.”

The Bison, who play host to the Montana State Bobcats on Saturday afternoon in a Football Championship Subdivision second-round playoff game, have enjoyed booming success in the Fargodome. Since 2010, the Bison are 71-6 at home, including a 21-1 mark in the FCS playoffs.

North Dakota State fans pack the Fargodome with more than 18,000 enthusiastic fans at each home game in Fargo, N.D.(Photo: Bruce Crummy, AP)

“It’s just a real tough place to play,” Horner said. “There was obviously a lot more energy there for that playoff game. The loudness never broke. It made it extremely difficult for us as an offense, because their defense was able to jump our snap-count.”

North Dakota State hammered the Grizzlies 37-6 on Dec. 5, 2015. That victory avenged a loss to the Grizzlies in a season opener, a memorable 38-35 Montana victory in Missoula. North Dakota State star quarterback Carson Wentz, now a standout in the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles, played that day and later was sidelined most of the season with an injury.

Montana State’s hopes on Saturday, of course, are to quiet the Fargodome crowd. Bobcat star quarterback Troy Andersen could certainly do that for the 8-4 Bobcats if he breaks a few long runs.

Former C.M. Russell High and Montana Grizzly standout Josh Horner, here running after a pass reception, has many memories of playing road games against the North Dakota State Bison.(Photo: Greg Wahl-Stephens, Greg Wahl-Stephens, AP)

“He’s a stud,” Horner said.

Most Treasure State football fans would agree. Andersen, a sophomore from Dillon, was named a unanimous first-team all-Big Sky Conference performer this season and enters Saturday’s playoff clash averaging 7 yards per rush and 107 yards rushing per game. The 6-3, 225-pound speedster has scored a school-record 20 touchdowns, including at least one in 10 straight games, and has also passed for 1,071 yards and three scores.

North Dakota State star quarterback Easton Stick is a four-year starter who owns several school records.(Photo: Tim Sanger)

North Dakota State star senior quarterback Easton Stick is also a difference-maker. A four-year starter – he took over when Wentz was hurt in 2015 – Stick has career totals of 8,035 yards passing, 72 TD passes and 10,283 yards of total offense.

Stick, a 6-2, 221-pounder with fine speed, has several school records.

“I think I’ve come a long way as a player and as a person,” Stick said. “Going through this for the fourth time as a player, you understand the intensity and focus that’s needed at practice and how important it is to come out and play well on Saturday.

“This is most comfortable I’ve felt going into a playoff run.”

The unbeaten Bison, who had a first-round bye last week and have been top-ranked all year long, are certainly used to making long playoff runs.

“There was a foundation set a long, long time ago,” Stick said. “There has been really good football played in Fargo for long time. We continue to try to push the envelope every day and find ways to improve.”

Montana State is used to playing in front of large crowds, with Bobcat Stadium in Bozeman normally jammed for Cat home games. More than 10,000 turned out last week as the Bobcats dispatched Incarnate Word (Texas) 35-14 in a first-round playoff game.

The Fargodome holds 18,700, and on game days there are rarely empty seats. The Bison this season rank fifth among FCS teams with average attendance of 18,480.

North Dakota State's defense made it difficult for the Montana Grizzlies in a 2014 regular-season game won the Bison at the Fargodome, 22-10.(Photo: BRUCE CRUMMY, AP)

Horner said the noise factor at Washington-Grizzly Stadium in Missoula, where Montana State posted a memorable 29-25 victory a few weeks ago, is also significant.

“That’s a big advantage that we had,” said Horner, who ranks the Uni-Dome at Northern Iowa second to the Fargodome in terms of loudness. Big Sky Conference teams also have played regularly in domes at North Dakota, Idaho State and Northern Arizona.

“It’s always it’s pretty loud in a dome,” Horner said. “But in Fargo, because it’s always sold out, there’s just no escaping the noise.”

North Dakota State claims a total of 14 national championships and last year won its sixth FCS title in seven seasons.

To say North Dakota State is the top program in the FCS is an understatement.

“It’s really crazy what they’ve accomplished,” Horner said. “It’s an awesome feeling to say I played against them three times and that we beat them once. Especially when they had Carson Wentz and he’s doing so many great things in the NFL.”